By Robbin Laird In August 2023, Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks announced a new “replicator” project or initiative. As she said in her speech: “At DoD, we’ve already been investing in attritable autonomous systems — across the military services, DIU, the Strategic Capabilities Office, and the combatant commands themselves —…
By Pierre Tran Paris – The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have not fueled fresh sales of the Rafale, Eric Trappier, executive chairman of Dassault Aviation, prime contractor for the French-built fighter jet, said Dec. 5. “These two crises are very hard, very sad, (but) there has been no impact,”…
By Pierre Tran Paris – The French, German and Spanish air force teams have trimmed down a shortlist of architectures for a European Future Air Combat System to four from five, French air force major general Jean-Luc Moritz said Nov. 9. The air force officers were working in close cooperation…
By Robbin Laird It will do little if one crafts the force for effective strike and does not work to ensure that the enterprise does not go Winchester much more rapidly than the duration of conflict. This is a major problem and at the first Williams Foundation seminar of 2023,…
By Robbin Laird September 14, 2023 was a significant day in the demonstration of the 21st century version of the arsenal of democracy and Denmark’s role in its realization. The first involved the arrival of the U.S.-led coalition built, sustained and operated high-end combat aircraft, the F-35 in Denmark. The…
By Pierre Tran Paris – There is a view that politics is really about personalities. That notion comes to mind after Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury pointed up the frustration of Europe failing to cooperate on arms programs in the light of war in Ukraine – apart from the future…
By Pierre Tran Paris – Belgium has joined as an observer to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), adding a fourth nation to a partnership which bears French ambitions to boost European defense, amid perception of a leadership competition between France and Germany. “The participation of Belgium as observer will…
By Robbin Laird I first visited the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, Connecticut in 2018 to view the beginning efforts to standup the production line for the new build CH-53K helicopter. I returned in May 2023 to see the progress in doing so as the CH-53K begins its journey to the…
